In The Area

Superhero movies continue to gain a respectability that couldn’t have been predicted a decade or two ago, with directors such as Ang Lee, Christopher Nolan and Michael Gondry tackling the genre (with varying degrees of success). Now Shakespearian Kenneth Branagh takes on Thor as part of the run up to The Avengers.

Clearly, there’s not going to be a great deal to see in terms of locations. The fantasy realms of Asgard and Jotunheim were built in the studio at Raleigh Studios in Manhattan Beach, Los Angeles – augmented with plenty of the inevitable CGI.

The rest of the film was shot in New Mexico, but there’s still not a great deal for the tourist. For instance, there is no ‘Puente Antiguo’. The entire town was constructed on the Cerro Pelon Ranch, 5527 State Highway 41, Lamy (did you notice how the design, with the circular 50s-style car dealership at the end of the main street, echoes the rainbow bridge and observatory of Asgard?), near Galisteo, about 25 miles south of Santa Fe.

The ranch, formerly known as the Cook Movie Ranch, has also hosted filming for Ed Harris’ Appaloosa and James Mangold’s 2007 remake of 3:10 To Yuma, with Russell Crowe and Christian Bale. It was recently bought by Santa Fe resident Tom Ford, the fashion designer and the director of 2009’s A Single Man.

One place you can visit, though, is the bar where Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Professor Selvig (Stellan Skarsgård) get totally bladdered on Boilermakers. It’s a strip club called Cheeks, 2841 Cerrillos Road, in Santa Fe.